Food attitude and directionally challenged

There is something about moving that can throw your very deepest senses of direction and space relation completely off kilter ! I have been wandering around her for 3 weeks, unpacking, getting into my new routines and feeling like someone placed me in the spin cycle of a dryer,let me out and now I am attempting to walk without crashing into something ! In our old place, all of the windows faced the east. Here, they all face the north , and it makes for an odd play of light and shadows that my brain is still not used to.

Sometime back I made the decision to no longer count calories, points, food groups and simply eat according to appetite. It is working. I have thrown away the scale ( literally), and am going by the way my clothing fits, my own stamina, flexibility, energy levels and so forth. I have dropped an underwear size, my tee shirts are hanging tragically loose, I am able to walk longer and farther, and can now do things like sit on the floor and get up ( could not do that for some time because of the injury). It is working. I am eating things like butter, eggs, whole milk, nuts, fish, chicken, red meat, veggies, grains - basically anything as long as it is not a processed food. I do a lot of cooking from scratch. During the move, all of those rules went out the door and we spent 5 days eating fast food three meals a day. It made me feel sick, run down, bound up and just plain unpleasant. While it was EXTREMELY nice not having to cook or worry about dishes at that time, it convinced me of the benefits of taking time to do the less convenient thing. Once again, weight loss is no longer the goal, focus or issue for us. Eating real food is.

Next week I am going to cook with something I never have before- chicken feet ! In the Oriental culture , these are used often to make soups because of their high gelatinous properties. Gelatine is good for you joints, bones, hair, skin, connective tissues and more. It is a source of protein , and these are used in broths to help the body absorb the properties of any healing herbs used. I need to stock my freezer here, but have been a little intimidated to do serious cooking in this very clean, white kitchen ! Time to get over it , and back to serious eats. I will post pictures of these strange little things next time .

I'm back !

Sorry for the very long break, but it has been a sort of exciting summer. Biggest news is that we have moved into a new place that is on the first floor and has many things to absolutely adore about it. Here is a peek at my new kitchen - it is small but extremely efficiant !

The closet that lies behind I am using as a pantry- something that I have wanted for many years. While at first it struck me as tragically small, once I got a moment to sit and think about how to best use the space, I grew to love it ! The complex has a health club, plenty of sidewalks to wander , and is adjacent to one of the longest bike paths in Northern Illinois. Good things will happen here.